WORM’s Pirate Bay archive has two key features. Firstly, the WORM Pirate Bay has both an online and offline presence. Guests can access the database online via thepiratebay.worm.org, a web application which is specifically designed to make WORM’s archive user friendly.

It is possible to browse by media type (VHS, DVD .. etc), genre, release year, etc or search the entire database by keyword. Creating a profile on thepiratebay website allows users to reserve items, save them to their profile, rate them or leave comments. A user who reserves an item is notified when it’s ready to be picked up at WORM, and reminded when it’s time to bring it back.

Visitors to WORM are able to browse and preview the media, get staff recommendations, and enjoy the selection of games and gadgets. Furthermore they can also take the chance to preview the WORM Pirate Bay archive in “DISPLAY”, a multi-functional art-design-nonobject by Amy Suo Wu. “DISPLAY” facilitates reading, watching, listening and sleeping in a cocoon. “DISPLAY” is all about display, it doesn’t discriminate between inanimate objects and bodies as objects.

This offline presence is both an answer and a credo. It is WORM’s response to the growing need for tangibility, something that the digital revolution has paradoxically brought about. Moreover, it comes from acknowledging that format is organic to the aesthetics of certain artworks; something that calls for the preservation and distribution of the original. As film activist Pip Chodorov said, “Better watch avant-garde films on VHS than on DVD because digital compression technology has been optimized for mainstream film and kills off the aesthetics of the analog film originals!”.